Elden Ring - chortlesome japes

[Ste Pickford]

I've just found my first 'Hero's Grave' that I've heard people mention on here.  Looks like a Bowser's Castle level from a Mario game.  And not in a good way.

[Mogster]

I summoned help for the first time today, and was also summoned as help for the first time. I helped someone beat the Volcano Manor boss and then someone else helped me do the same.

 

I'm "only" 60 odd hours in, which is nothing compared to some here but it's quite something for me these days. It's still nowhere near getting old.

[mechamonkey]

Rolled the platinum this weekend and finished up the 

Spoiler

six (but I suspect a 7th related to the frenzied flame with someone still around...)

endings.
What a ride, I don't know what I'm going to do now  

[jonamok]

Yeah you do.

[CheekyMonkey]

I really cannot muster much enthusiasm to play anything else after this - it's gonna have to be new game (or new game+) with a totally different character build. Maybe a Gandalf wizard type, or some arcane fire breathing dragon acolyte thingy. 

[Lovelyman]

The music when fighting Malenia is great. Has a similar vibe to Gwyn. 

 

Phase 2 is bullshit though. 

 

She's cool 

[PeteJ]

Exploring the Capital has been great so far. Every time I play I'm ending exploring a whole new section, it's just huge and brilliantly designed. I love how they keep revealing stunning vistas from different viewpoints. 

 

Last night I found the area I was teleported to many, many hours ago. 

 

Those knights are a bugger though and I have to admit since first bumping into one at the Academy, I've run away from every Abductor Virgin I've faced. Another enemy I don't find particularly challenging, but they tend to do a lot of damage each time I face them, is the ones with the fire crossbow. They are quick and pretty deadly! 

[scottcr]

The best image in the game so far from me (I'm at the whizzy stone cloud dragon palace place just now) has been in Capital... hints at some great battle and how they managed to defeat that massive dragon, which I thought was cool.

[Scruff]

11 hours ago, Ste Pickford said:

I've just found my first 'Hero's Grave' that I've heard people mention on here.  Looks like a Bowser's Castle level from a Mario game.  And not in a good way.

 

Technically, you found one just before you went up the lift and took your first step in Limgrave  

 

*edit* Is there a lore reason that the branches of the Haligtree are covered in lard? I'm feeling a bit like the cupcake dog gif.

[Ste Pickford]

A couple more Elden Ring journal pages.  I spent a bit longer than I intended sketching the first view of Siofra River this morning, but it was worth it for such a magical moment.

 

Spoiler

 

 

I think I stole the 'longest elevator ride in video game history' line from someone in this thread, so thanks / apologies to whoever that was.

[Hawklord]

Being a Bank Holiday weekend I had good plans to get through some games that I've been neglecting.

 

And now I've just entered the Forbidden Lands on my SX save. Only 46 hours to get here this time as opposed to 100+ hours on the PS5 save lol

[Uncle Nasty]

12 hours ago, robdood said:

My god, looking at the NPC pages on the wiki,  it seems I missed about 90% of the NPC stuff, lol. 

 

The NPC quests are ridiculously obscure aren't they. I wouldn't even have vaguely figured them out without a guide, crazy really as they're the meat of the game, especially Ranni.

 

Are you going to do a NG or NG+ to do the NPC stuff?

[robdood]

33 minutes ago, Uncle Nasty said:

 

The NPC quests are ridiculously obscure aren't they. I wouldn't even have vaguely figured them out without a guide, crazy really as they're the meat of the game, especially Ranni.

 

Are you going to do a NG or NG+ to do the NPC stuff?

Ranni's was the one of the few I did, though I missed chunks.  

 

Think I'll do NG again soon, maybe try something like no spirit summons?

 

 

[El Spatula]

I've just restarted to go Str/Fai or Fai/Arc if I can make it work.

 

It's a bit rough being a faith build at the start as incantations etc. don't come along for a while unless you bypass Stormveil.

 

I have never, ever touched a Str type build before... usually dislike heavy weapons,  suspect I may end up trying Fai/Arc a spin with Rivers of Blood.

[Ste Pickford]

Although not near the end, I'm definitely planning to restart with a STR / FAI build when I've finished, as I expect it to be really different to how I'm playing now.

[Minion]

I’ve been doing str/fth with great swords as the melee weapons like claymore or iron great sword and it’s been great. The faith stuff doesn’t really come into its own till later but now I’m at the end I’ve got a great versatile character who can do a bunch of stuff, duke it out with dual great swords or throw incantations and heal etc…. But Malenia is a real bummer. I’m stuck at her at the moment determined to do it solo but it’s so hard and you can’t use spells as she just doges them. 
 

anyway for anyone going strength faith make sure you make friends with gurranq and feed him deathroots to get some amazing incantations and a seal that scales with strength as well as faith. Gurranqs stone is crazy good. 

[Uncle Nasty]

1 hour ago, robdood said:

Ranni's was the one of the few I did, though I missed chunks.  

 

Think I'll do NG again soon, maybe try something like no spirit summons?

 

 

 

Dunno about that, the Spirit Summons are a real highlight of the game. Be a bit hair-shirty to deprive yourself of seeing the Mimic dishing out a good beating!

 

14 minutes ago, Minion said:

anyway for anyone going strength faith make sure you make friends with gurranq and feed him deathroots to get some amazing incantations and a seal that scales with strength as well as faith. Gurranqs stone is crazy good. 

 

Well, bugger. My build was Faith/Strength and I ended up aggroing Gurranq during the gargoyle fight outside his room. My Mimic killed him before I could reset at the grace.

 

[Number 28]

Can a certain fountain not reset him?

[Parappa]

2 hours ago, Ste Pickford said:

I think I stole the 'longest elevator ride in video game history' line from someone in this thread, so thanks / apologies to whoever that was.

Anytime. 

[John0]

15 hours ago, robdood said:

My god, looking at the NPC pages on the wiki,  it seems I missed about 90% of the NPC stuff, lol. 

 

Yeah I had the same experience! A lot of it was my fault for not paying enough attention, but you really need to be extremely attentive and remember lines that someone said hours and hours ago to stand any chance. And often I find the game pulls me out of any kind of story/lore stuff with the combat/dungeons - I find I mostly can't concentrate on both sides of the game at once. And even if you can manage that then characters pop up in areas for mandatory encounters without any sort of clue as far as I'm aware eg:

 

Spoiler

Alexander getting stuck in the hole above Jarburg after Radhan!

 

I'd love them to make them a bit more forgiving or drop a few more nudges in right directions. I'm going through them with help of a guide in an NG run now and some of the dialogue and character arcs are very cool.

[Minion]

24 minutes ago, Number 28 said:

Can a certain fountain not reset him?

 

Not if he's dead.

[John0]

59 minutes ago, Minion said:

I’ve been doing str/fth with great swords as the melee weapons like claymore or iron great sword and it’s been great. The faith stuff doesn’t really come into its own till later but now I’m at the end I’ve got a great versatile character who can do a bunch of stuff, duke it out with dual great swords or throw incantations and heal etc…. But Malenia is a real bummer. I’m stuck at her at the moment determined to do it solo but it’s so hard and you can’t use spells as she just doges them. 

 

Re Melania. Apologies if you've already seen it, but I popped links to a couple of yt vids in this post: 

- would highly recommend at least the short 5 min tutorial one. The backwards, backwards, forwards, forwards, left, left dodge for the spirits attack, and the tip that she'll often go for a kick after you attack her in phase 2 were game changers for me. Everything felt like it started slotting into place after that. Good luck! Feels amazing when you get it and I don't regret my ~10 hours of training .

[scottcr]

24 minutes ago, John0 said:

 

Yeah I had the same experience! A lot of it was my fault for not paying enough attention, but you really need to be extremely attentive and remember lines that someone said hours and hours ago to stand any chance. And often I find the game pulls me out of any kind of story/lore stuff with the combat/dungeons - I find I mostly can't concentrate on both sides of the game at once. And even if you can manage that then characters pop up in areas for mandatory encounters without any sort of clue as far as I'm aware eg:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Alexander getting stuck in the hole above Jarburg after Radhan!

 

I'd love them to make them a bit more forgiving or drop a few more nudges in right directions. I'm going through them with help of a guide in an NG run now and some of the dialogue and character arcs are very cool.

 

the game *really* needs some kind of journal - doesn't need to be that complicated, doesn't need to pin point places on the map - but an image of the character you met, where you met them and what they said would be very helpful.

[Davros sock drawer]

21 minutes ago, Minion said:

 

Not if he's dead.

 

I killed Blaidd and was able to resurrect him.

[Minion]

Just now, Davros sock drawer said:

 

I killed Blaidd and was able to resurrect him.

 

Oh really? I'm sure I'd seen somewhere else someone had killed gurranq and wasn't able to revive him at the fountain, that's good if you can.

[Davros sock drawer]

8 minutes ago, scottcr said:

 

 an image of the character you met, where you met them and what they said would be very helpful.

 

Not trying to be an apologist (although I personally think that sort of approach is anathema to the Fromsoft model of community sharing, online messages etc), but I found the PS4 screenshot feature pretty useful in that regard.

[Davros sock drawer]

1 minute ago, Minion said:

 

Oh really? I'm sure I'd seen somewhere else someone had killed gurranq and wasn't able to revive him at the fountain, that's good if you can.

 

There was a lot of misinformation online around the game's release saying you could only de-aggro NPCs, not bring them back to life, but it worked for me.

[scottcr]

I'm looking forward to seeing some Alexander cosplay....

[The Fox]

1 hour ago, Minion said:

I’ve been doing str/fth with great swords as the melee weapons like claymore or iron great sword and it’s been great. The faith stuff doesn’t really come into its own till later but now I’m at the end I’ve got a great versatile character who can do a bunch of stuff, duke it out with dual great swords or throw incantations and heal etc…. But Malenia is a real bummer. I’m stuck at her at the moment determined to do it solo but it’s so hard and you can’t use spells as she just doges them. 
 

anyway for anyone going strength faith make sure you make friends with gurranq and feed him deathroots to get some amazing incantations and a seal that scales with strength as well as faith. Gurranqs stone is crazy good. 

 

Sounds similar to me, I am just getting started in the Mountaintops at level 126. Powerstancing with Blasphemous Blade and Iron Greatsword, and using other slots to buff my jumping L1, buffing myself with flame and holy spells, chucking lightning spears about the place. It's great fun.

[Minion]

Malenia is the most broken and unfair boss ever created by From.